Chapter 16 Power

Chapter 16 Power

Chapter 16 Power
Li Dianshi naturally had to stay in the yamen, while Xu Qing went to find the two constables who had accompanied him and Zhou to buy incense and candles last time to send him back.

Anyway, Xu Qing had already asked when he came, and they were going out to patrol the streets today as well.

When they arrived at the classroom, most of the detectives inside were gambling around a black-faced man. As for the two detectives Xu Qing was looking for, they were two brothers, the elder brother Guo Zhuang and the younger brother Guo Li.

The two did not participate in the gambling, as if they were being deliberately ignored.

The two of them didn't care. When they saw Xu Qing coming, Guo Zhuang smiled and said, "Brother Xu, you're here. Let's go."

"Wait, you are Li Gongyu's nephew Xu Qing?" The black-faced man who was gambling covered the cards in his hand and looked at Xu Qing with a sinister look.

"Constable, in the yamen, you should address the official Li Dianshi. You just committed the crime of insubordination." Xu Qing said calmly.

"You are such a sharp-tongued boy. Just wait for me." The black-faced man looked at Xu Qing fiercely.

This kind of almost murderous malice can be felt by ordinary people, let alone Xu Qing.

"Brother Guo, Brother Guo, let's go." Xu Qing smiled faintly, as if he didn't care at all about the fierce look of the black-faced constable.

The Guo brothers were worried that the other party would be irrational and cause some conflict, so they left the classroom with Xu Qing.

When they got outside the government office, Xu Qing finally spoke: "Who was that person just now?"

Guo Li: "Zhao Bao, Zhao Xiong's cousin, is a mad dog. Brother Xu, try not to go out alone in the future."

Guo Zhuang glanced at his brother and continued, "Last year, there was a family whose ten acres of paddy fields were very close to Zhao Bao's fields. Zhao Bao heard that the feng shui there was good, so he took a fancy to it and wanted to force the family to buy it. The family disagreed. So before the county exam, he asked someone to break the legs of the family's youngest son. Since then, the family's youngest son has become crazy."

At the end, Guo Zhuang sighed.

Xu Qing: "Breaking someone's legs, how was this case judged?"

"How else can we sentence him? The attacker turned himself in, and the case was closed that day. Because many people saw that it was the youngest son of that family who started the fight. Even though the man's leg was broken, even the master couldn't sentence him too harshly because the attacker turned himself in and voluntarily paid for medicine."

Xu Qing asked again: "Is the youngest son of that family very talented in studying?"

"Well, his family had ten acres of excellent paddy fields, his mother was a textile worker, his brother and sister-in-law did not separate the family, and supported him to go to a private school. Mr. Feng, the owner of the private school, was very optimistic about him, but after something like that happened, his future was completely ruined." Guo Zhuang replied.

Guo Li continued, "Mr. Feng has the title of a scholar. He has consulted the master several times for this case, but the master can't help him. Moreover, he is already crazy. No matter how much help he gets, he will never pass the imperial examination..."

He didn't say anything else, but Xu Qing understood what he meant.

It means that the other party is no longer valuable.

Mr. Feng, under such circumstances, went to see County Magistrate Wu, which was really a very kind thing to do.

Xu Qing: "Brother Guo, Brother Guo, I understand your good intentions. I will definitely pay attention to my safety in the next period of time."

Guo Li: "Brother Xu, you can see that my elder brother and I don't get along with the Zhao Clan. If you need us these days, we brothers will not refuse."

Xu Qing nodded and said, "Thank you for your kindness, brothers. I would like to ask, what is the relationship between you and the family in trouble?"

Guo Zhuang sighed: "Even if Brother Xu doesn't ask, we have to tell you."

Guo Li interrupted, "That's my sister-in-law's house."

Xu Qing nodded gently: "Brother Guo, don't worry, after I finish the Tongsheng exam, I will definitely help you give an explanation to your sister-in-law."

Guo Zhuang's eyes were slightly red, "Brother Xu, you..."

He wanted to bow to express his gratitude, but Xu Qing waved his hand and said, "Brother Guo, there is no point in talking more. We will see what happens."

After Xu Qing promised, Guo Zhuang and Guo Li became closer to Xu Qing. After sending Xu Qing back to Li's courtyard safely, the two brothers said goodbye and continued to patrol the streets.

"Brother, this Brother Xu is indeed a smart man. It seems that the rumors are true. The fact that Li Dianshi was able to become Dianshi is really related to Brother Xu."

"Yes, last time I sent him to buy incense and candles, he was silent all the way. This time, he immediately became talkative after feeling the threat from Zhao Bao. We often deal with all kinds of people. Among the young people, there are cruel ones and there are also smart ones. But I have only seen one person who is both smart and cruel."

"Brother, how do you know he's so cruel?"

"You forgot that Zhao Bao really killed someone. The look in his eyes was unbearable for the two of us detectives. Do you think Brother Xu was scared? If it wasn't for someone more ruthless, he would have made a fool of himself in the classroom just now."

"That's not cruel. I heard scholars say that this is called being calm even when a mountain collapses in front of you. It shows that Brother Xu is a man who can accomplish great things."

"Ali, you are wrong. Anyone who can accomplish great things must be ruthless." Guo Zhuang added lightly.

Compared to his younger brother, who always showed his desire to climb up the social ladder, Guo Zhuang's thoughts were deeper. Even if there was no matter about his wife's family, he would not get close to the Zhao family.

Because he knew very well that it was impossible for these outsiders like him to get a chance from Zhao Xiong.

He has been waiting.

Finally waited for this opportunity.

"Li Gongpu's skills are about the same as mine, but he has a good nephew. His luck changed immediately when he reached middle age and he reached the ceiling that lowly people like me can reach." Guo Zhuang sighed inwardly.

Personal efforts are sometimes worthless in the face of luck.

...

...

After returning to the courtyard and saying hello to Zhou, Xu Qing returned to the cottage.

He lit a stick of incense, and his spirit left his body and disappeared into the curling smoke. In the spirit state, he was less disturbed by emotions. With the incense to protect his spirit, he recited the article.

It can relax your mind without making any noise.

At the same time, it is also a training of the soul, allowing it to gradually adapt to the state of leaving the physical body.

In this way, even if the soul's ability to interfere with matter is still weak, being able to stay away from the physical body for a distance can help him do many things that he cannot do at this stage.

For example, spying on the enemy's secrets.

Of course, the soul needs more nourishment from the body on a daily basis.

Incense and candles are just auxiliary means.

Being in a state of soul leaving the body, Xu Qing's thoughts became clearer.

"What the Guo brothers said earlier can be summed up in two points. They want to make progress, and they have a grudge against Zhao Xiong and the others, so you can use them without worry."

Xu Qing can now see that the Guo brothers are martial artists, but unfortunately no one appreciates them.

The Guo brothers definitely wanted to be appreciated by Li Gongyu at the beginning, but their previous words hinted that they would prefer to be appreciated by Xu Qing if Xu Qing could pass the examination and become a scholar.

"In any case, the Guo brothers can be used to deal with the Zhao family. Because what I can give, Zhao Xiong can't."

In this era, when someone comes to power in a local area, he or she will often have a large number of relatives to help them, and it will never be the turn of outsiders.

Li Gongyu's relationship with Zhou's relatives was not actually very close, and he came to power in a hurry and made enemies with Zhao Xiong, so he had no time to make arrangements for his relatives.

Because at this time, Li Gongyu needed more capable people to help him.

The Guo brothers saw this and took the initiative to move closer.

In comparison, Xu Qing is actually a better choice, because if Xu Qing takes the throne, his only relatives are Li Gongyu and his wife.

It is impossible for Xu Qing to hide behind his uncle forever. If he wants to solve the problem of his own life span, it is inevitable for him to build his own power.

You can't do everything yourself later.

What's more, being free from ordinary mundane affairs would be beneficial to his study and martial arts practice.

...

...

For the next half month, Xu Qing continued to immerse himself in reading and practicing martial arts without any distractions.

During this period, the effect of Liuwei Dihuang Decoction on him became less and less obvious.

Xu Qing combined the information from the bronze mirror with his own experience with the Crane Shaped Posture, and then through the state of "absolute concentration", he tested the tonic prescriptions he knew.

After trying all the prescriptions, Xu Qing discovered something speechless. The one that worked best for him was a tonic prescription he found for his girlfriend in his previous life, called Siwu Decoction, which was specifically used to replenish blood and regulate menstruation.

Many common medicines in this world are no different from those in the past.

In fact, apart from some mysterious and supernatural aspects, it can basically be equated with the ancient world of the previous life.

However, he was just an ordinary person in his previous life, so it is hard to say whether there were any mysterious or extraordinary things in the world of his previous life.

The cost of Siwu Decoction is actually lower than that of Liuwei Dihuang Decoction, but the effect is surprisingly good.

Xu Qing used Siwu Decoction to speed up the slowed-down progress of the Crane Shape Posture.

During this period, it is inevitable to eat a lot of chicken.

Because chicken is relatively low cost and tastes good.

If you are cooking fish, you need seasoning.

In this era, spices were not cheap. For example, pepper was distributed as a salary to officials at the beginning of this dynasty.

In Xu Qing’s previous life, the place where the Empress of the Han Dynasty lived was called Jiaofang Palace.

Such a noble place is named "pepper", which shows how rare spices were in ancient times.

Of course, the walls of the Queen's Pepper Palace were painted with a mixture of Sichuan peppercorns and mud, not the pepper from the Chinese pepper family.

In any case, in this ancient world, taste was a luxury.

"Although chickens and cranes are both flying birds, eating chicken can be considered as replenishing the body with like. However, if conditions permit, I don't want to eat chicken anymore in the future." Xu Qing sighed.

Now he has actually vomited from eating so much.

There is no other way. In order to supplement nutrition, I have to eat it anyway.

I really want to eat beef!

Xu Qing felt his desire for other foods becoming more and more intense.

He forced himself to gather his thoughts.

This is also a tempering of the soul.

He has actually figured out some tricks of practicing Taoism.

Meditation is the basic skill.

If you can control your desires, defeat and refine them, your soul will gain some benefits. On the contrary, if you indulge in desires too much, your soul will become weak.

Before we knew it, it was already mid-April.

Xu Qing also took some time to practice with a dagger.

He didn't understand the short blade moves, but that didn't stop him from practicing.

The crane-shaped stance improved his limbs, giving him strong hand-eye coordination. The use of short weapons was nothing more than agility and agility, coupled with steady, accurate and ruthless strikes, which was enough to deal with ordinary villains.

"I estimate that I can achieve great success in the Crane Posture in the next one or two days." Xu Qing was practicing the Crane Posture in the yard when he suddenly had an epiphany. At the same time, he felt a little constrained.

The yard is still too small.

Next to it is a chicken coop.

When Xu Qing practiced the crane stance, his sleeves fluttered in the wind, and he really felt like a crane standing out among chickens.

Go outside!
It is summer now and the sun rises earlier.

However, there were not many people on the riverside outside the courtyard.

Xu Qing came to the place where he and Zhou had dug earthworms before. There were willow trees swaying nearby and the vast river surface in sight. He felt quite eager to try something new.

He began to practice the Crane Shape Posture.

As soon as he started, Xu Qing entered a state of "absolute concentration". A total of 32 basic movements of the Crane Posture flowed through Xu Qing's mind like flowing water.

His body danced with it.

Every movement is pleasing to the eye, without any lag.

It seems to be the result of decades of hard work.

In a state of "absolute concentration", he broke through the bottleneck of Crane Posture. His understanding of every movement of Crane Posture was far beyond what he had before.

Different from the previous use of limbs.

His back rose and fell vaguely like a dragon or snake, and his torso made a creaking sound, a bit like the sound of a musical instrument, full of rhythm.

As the spine stretches, the limbs are completely stretched out.

At some point, Xu Qing completed the crane-shaped stance.

He immediately felt the heat that usually grew from his chest and abdomen, this time a sudden flow of heat grew. His body suddenly became hot, as if it had turned into a furnace.

The qi and blood in the body are flowing much faster than usual.

This heat flow appeared quickly.

Before Xu Qing had time to use his soul to control it, it spread to his limbs and bones at a very fast speed as if by instinct.

Xu Qing felt his body becoming full.

He couldn't help it, so he gathered all his strength and suddenly punched out.

A loud sound suddenly appeared on the ground.

Xu Qing felt a little exhausted for a moment. He leaned against the willow tree next to him to catch his breath and "observed" the bronze mirror in his body.

The martial arts evaluation of Crane Shape Post appears:

Crane-shaped stance (incomplete): Dacheng (Ming Jin).

“I didn’t expect that after the Crane Shape Posture was perfected, the evaluation was still incomplete. Could it be that the breathing method is so important? I use the soul to control the heat, what is the difference between this and the breathing method?” Xu Qing fell into deep thought, but could not get an answer, and then focused on the “Ming Jin”.

He has read many leisure books and is familiar with the term Ming Jin.

It is said that a sound is worth more than money.

Ming Jin is a relatively powerful way of exerting force.

The punch he just threw made a sound out of thin air, which was obviously not simple.

Xu Qing did not rashly use the tree trunk to test his "Ming Jin". Although the Crane Posture has the effect of strengthening the tendons, bone development is obviously not the main focus of the Crane Posture. Moreover, he is not yet an adult, so his bones are still worse than those of an adult strong man.

Wouldn't it be funny if you broke your bones with your fists or feet?

It takes a hundred days to heal his broken bones, and in half a month, he will have to take the county exam!
"I can't test it with my fist, but I have a dagger."

This dagger is an ordinary sharp blade.

Xu Qing fixed his eyes on a branch, and after a period of recovery, he once again entered a state of absolute concentration.

The power of Ming Jin is infused into the dagger.

cut!
The branches fall straight down, and the cuts are neat and smooth like mirrors.

Xu Qinggeng seemed to have split open the haze that lingered before his county examination.

In the bronze mirror, in the column of luck, the lingering black air suddenly disappeared without a trace in an instant.

(End of this chapter)